Bismuth impregnated biochar for efficient estrone degradation: The synergistic effect between biochar and Bi/Bi2O3 for a high photocatalytic performance

Ningyuan Zhu; Chunquan Li; Lingjun Bu; Cilai Tang; Sichu Wang; Pengfei Duan; Lunguang Yao; Jun Tang; Dionysios D Dionysiou; Yonghong Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121258

Bismuth impregnated biochar for efficient estrone degradation: The synergistic effect between biochar and Bi/Bi₂O₃ for a high photocatalytic performance

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Feb 15:384:121258. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121258. Epub 2019 Sep 19.

Authors

Ningyuan Zhu¹, Chunquan Li², Lingjun Bu³, Cilai Tang⁴, Sichu Wang⁵, Pengfei Duan⁶, Lunguang Yao⁶, Jun Tang⁷, Dionysios D Dionysiou⁸, Yonghong Wu⁹

Affiliations

¹ Zigui Ecological Station for Three Gorges Dam Project, State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 71 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China; Environmental Engineering and Science Program, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (ChEE), 705 Engineering Research Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012 USA; College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: zhuny@issas.ac.cn.
² School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, PR China; Environmental Engineering and Science Program, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (ChEE), 705 Engineering Research Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012 USA.
³ Key Laboratory of Building Safety and Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Education, Department of Water Engineering and Science, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China; Environmental Engineering and Science Program, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (ChEE), 705 Engineering Research Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012 USA.
⁴ College of Hydraulic & Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Hubei Yichang 443002, China.
⁵ Zigui Ecological Station for Three Gorges Dam Project, State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 71 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China; College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁶ Collaborative Innovation Center of Water Security for Water Source, Region of Mid-line of South-to-North Diversion Project, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, 473061, Henan, China.
⁷ Zigui Ecological Station for Three Gorges Dam Project, State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 71 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China.
⁸ Environmental Engineering and Science Program, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (ChEE), 705 Engineering Research Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012 USA.
⁹ Zigui Ecological Station for Three Gorges Dam Project, State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 71 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China; College of Hydraulic & Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Hubei Yichang 443002, China. Electronic address: yhwu@issas.ac.cn.

PMID: 32028547
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121258

Abstract

An innovative advanced oxidation process was successfully developed to photocatalytic-degradation of estrone through the synergistic effect of biochar and Bi/Bi₂O₃ in bismuth-containing photocatalytic biochar (BiPB). The highest reaction rate constant (k_obs) of estrone degradation by BiPB was 0.045 min^-1 under the conditions of initial concentration of estrone =10.4 μmol L^-1, [BiPB] =1 g L^-1, pH = 7.0. The k_obs was almost tenfold and more than 20 times than that of biochar without bismuth impregnation and pristine Bi/Bi₂O₃, respectively. The best photocatalytic performance of BiPB composites for the degradation of estrone was primarily attributed to generation of OH radicals. Impregnation of bismuth helped control the concentration of persistent free radicals (PFRs) and develop a hierarchical porous structure of biochar. The presence of biochar facilitated pre-concentration estrone on BiPB and improved the separation and transfer efficiency of charge carriers. The synergistic effect between biochar and Bi/Bi₂O₃ contributed to the generation of OH radicals for estrone degradation under neutral pH conditions. The transformation pathway of estrone was also proposed based on the measured transformation products in the presence of BiPB. The high efficiency of BiPB composites indicated that this easily-obtained material was promising for estrone-wastewater treatment applications as a low-cost composite photocatalyst.

Keywords: Biochar; Bismuth; Estrone; Persistent free radicals; Photocatalytic degradation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bismuth / chemistry*
Catalysis
Charcoal / chemistry*
Estrone / chemistry*
Light
Photolysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical / chemistry*
Water Purification

Substances

Water Pollutants, Chemical
biochar
Charcoal
Estrone
bismuth oxide
Bismuth